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Circumstances Surrounding Lost Next Gen iPhone Detailed
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Not with the right tools, its not. If you have access to a laser machine, you can just whip up the casing fairly quickly. The component could all come from an iphone 3g/s. I'm skeptical about this iphone more so with the hardware than anything. Wouldn't gizmodo be cracking the thing open and telling us about all the goodies inside by now? Apple won't just let a prototype out in the wild without making changes to the hardware.
It DOES matter that they named him. They shouldn't have. Apple of course knows. They disabled the phone and I'm sure they audit prototype phones. They shouldn't have named him. Apple knows who it was. Now all they've done is ruined his future career. Apple might fire him. They might not. But if they did fire him no one had to know that was the reason other than apple. Now any future employer who would trust him with sensitive materials is probably not gonna hire him.
Who has confirmed this employees name rank and serial number! Lol I think it was stupid of the guy to run off and sell it for only 5 Gs he could have auctioned it to the highest bidder! FAKE STORY... possibly real mock up though...
Gray Powell the Maxwell Smart of iPhone Field Engineers...
"Lost it by that much!" Dum Da Dummmmm...
"Lost it by that much!" Dum Da Dummmmm...
If he was a software engineer, it is unlikely that he had access to the final hardware of the phone. Perhaps access to some new hardware components to facilitate running the new software (or testing of the specific component that he was working on), but not likely access to the actual design, or even all of the new hardware features.
Like Gizmodo themselves say, the software and hardware development teams for these projects are isolated from each other.
--mAc
i smell BS
A few things don't add up about this.
1. The phone was shut down via MobileMe the same night it was lost in the bar. Something tells me Apple would have known about that, either by watching this guy's MobileMe account, or controlling it themselves. Even if they were allowing the guy some personal usage, no way would they let him do ANYTHING of that sort without them knowing. Keep in mind this IS the next iPhone we're dealing with here. Which leads me to my second point...
2. According to the story, the guy tried to call this in to Apple. Sure, I can see this getting lost in corporate bureaucracy, but this is Apple we're talking about. You had better be damned sure they would pay attention- I mean, I doubt they get this kind of thing (hey! i just found the next gen iPhone at a bar!) every day. Considering the amount of info the guy had about Mr. Gray Powell and the phone, you would think whoever he contacted at Apple would at least be SOMEWHAT curious. Especially if they knew they had lost a phone.
3. The guy's defense is that he tried to give it back to , and failed, so he ended up selling it to Giz. Questionable legality aside, HE HAD THE GUY'S NAME. Would it have been that hard to message him on Facebook or look in the phonebook?
4. Apple has not acted on this AT ALL. Not that they normally blabber off about any old rumor, but this is a special case (ie, the next in Apple's ridiculously successful/important smartphone line.) First of all, the guy is still working there (as of today, and you can be sure Apple would have found out about the lost phone before now). Considering Apple's well-documented ridiculous security, that seems more than a little strange. Apple hasn't sent out cease and desists (which they did for a much lesser crime- I mean, serial numbers? Seriously?) Even if they are enjoying the free publicity, this is hundreds of millions of dollars worth of company stock and profit- a prime trade secret. Of course, Giz's suspiciously unrevealing teardown (no connect to itunes or actual internal images) didn't reveal much anyway.
Also, something tells me Gawker would have gone much higher than $5,000 for this. About two years of reading their blogs tells me that they LOVE hits, and this=major hits. And I know that Gawker blogs put hits above all else, but this seems especially low to reveal the guy's name to the world.
Edited to add detail to the part about Mr. Powell still working there.
A few things don't add up about this.
1. The phone was shut down via MobileMe the same night it was lost in the bar. Something tells me Apple would have known about that, either by watching this guy's MobileMe account, or controlling it themselves. Even if they were allowing the guy some personal usage, no way would they let him do ANYTHING of that sort without them knowing. Keep in mind this IS the next iPhone we're dealing with here. Which leads me to my second point...
2. According to the story, the guy tried to call this in to Apple. Sure, I can see this getting lost in corporate bureaucracy, but this is Apple we're talking about. You had better be damned sure they would pay attention- I mean, I doubt they get this kind of thing (hey! i just found the next gen iPhone at a bar!) every day. Considering the amount of info the guy had about Mr. Gray Powell and the phone, you would think whoever he contacted at Apple would at least be SOMEWHAT curious. Especially if they knew they had lost a phone.
3. The guy's defense is that he tried to give it back to , and failed, so he ended up selling it to Giz. Questionable legality aside, HE HAD THE GUY'S NAME. Would it have been that hard to message him on Facebook or look in the phonebook?
4. Apple has not acted on this AT ALL. Not that they normally blabber off about any old rumor, but this is a special case (ie, the next in Apple's ridiculously successful/important smartphone line.) First of all, the guy is still working there (as of today, and you can be sure Apple would have found out about the lost phone before now). Considering Apple's well-documented ridiculous security, that seems more than a little strange. Apple hasn't sent out cease and desists (which they did for a much lesser crime- I mean, serial numbers? Seriously?) Even if they are enjoying the free publicity, this is hundreds of millions of dollars worth of company stock and profit- a prime trade secret. Of course, Giz's suspiciously unrevealing teardown (no connect to itunes or actual internal images) didn't reveal much anyway.
Also, something tells me Gawker would have gone much higher than $5,000 for this. About two years of reading their blogs tells me that they LOVE hits, and this=major hits. And I know that Gawker blogs put hits above all else, but this seems especially low to reveal the guy's name to the world.
Edited to add detail to the part about Mr. Powell still working there.
If the phone was bricked, and apple ignored the finders effort to return it, then its abandoned property.
Even for the original iPhone, much less the iterations since, that "isolation" did not last until six weeks before the announce date. Final units (NOT "prototypes") were in the wild with miscellaneous Apple employees for user test phase (whatever Apple calls that in their process specs) at least three months before launch.
Care to cite evidence for that claim? I'd be curious to see it, because the law disagrees explicitly in every state in the U.S.
This is one of the most interesting stories I've read on a tech site in a LONG time.
This is all playing out so strangely, yet I wanna see what happens.
This is all playing out so strangely, yet I wanna see what happens.
If we are going to go all conspiracy theory on Apple setting this whole thing up, why don't we take it to 11 on the crazy setting and wonder if maybe "Gray Powell" is actually just a face? If Apple is willing to set it up enough to leave a phone on a bar stool and hope it makes it into the hands of someone who is quick enough to figure out what they have and hand it off to Giz or have the unnamed source be a plant to get it into the hands of Giz, then why not think they could have just taken some a random person to use as a face, made a few fake accounts on Flickr, Facebook, etc to have as a fall guy without actually completely screwing anyone over?
Or, crap happens.
Or, crap happens.
great lets wait forever and never enjoy any of the benefits ...brilliant idea
Stolen
This makes it misplaced property (not lost or abandoned).
Thus the finder has no legal claim to the phone whatsoever. Misplaced property can only be claimed by the original owner or the owner of the property were it was misplaced.
This makes it misplaced property (not lost or abandoned).
Thus the finder has no legal claim to the phone whatsoever. Misplaced property can only be claimed by the original owner or the owner of the property were it was misplaced.
What if a 1000 monkeys fell out of the ceiling. Right now.
That's theft, plain and simple.
s.
This is just too fishy... almost looks like an Apple planned PR thing to build momentum for the new iPhone launch.
What doesn't add up for me...
Why didn't the guy turn the phone in to the lost & found at the bar?
Why didn't Apple locate the phone with MobileMe?
Why didn't they contact the bar, or such?
Why did he take so long before going to the news?
Why did Gizmodo wait for weeks before getting it out in the open?
Why did Engadget leak the first photos of the new iPhone?
Just too many loose ends.. I do have to agree this is the most itneresting story on the iPhone 4G.
What doesn't add up for me...
Why didn't the guy turn the phone in to the lost & found at the bar?
Why didn't Apple locate the phone with MobileMe?
Why didn't they contact the bar, or such?
Why did he take so long before going to the news?
Why did Gizmodo wait for weeks before getting it out in the open?
Why did Engadget leak the first photos of the new iPhone?
Just too many loose ends.. I do have to agree this is the most itneresting story on the iPhone 4G.
Do you have any sources? The only situation I can remember involved Steve Jobs himself, with the original iPhone.
I find it hard to believe that Apple would trust the final version of the next iPhone in the wild with a "miscellaneous" software engineer, given the lock and key (and black plastic enclosure) they had on the iPad design until launch day itself.
I can see that they would allow out a software development mule that is not in the final case design. They can brick it remotely. I can't see the final design walking out the door with just a run-of-the-mill iPhone case protecting it.
--mAc
I just searched for his profile on linkedln.....its still there; not deleted!
AT&T doesn't have a 4G network.
It's their fourth generation of iPhone, but I highly doubt they'll call it that.
Then again, it doesn't have an HD screen either, and some have been calling it the "iPhoneHD"...